Sainte Bazeille. The health crisis puts associations in difficulty

During a meeting to prepare for the course of the heart and the strawberry fair, two events that will take place in Sainte-Bazeille in mid-April and early May, the municipality had invited the leaders of sports associations to mobilize volunteers.

But it was at the end of the meeting, during a round table initiated by Christian Jadas, the elected official who led the meeting, that the presidents expressed their difficulties and concerns for their association. Bazidanse, which brought together more than 120 dancers for its first year of existence in 2019-2020, saw its workforce drop by 30% and its activities slow down. Ditto for judo with a 30% drop in licensees. For rugby, it’s the friendly side that took a hit but also the finances with the impossibility of organizing Friday evening meals or receptions but also the absence of a refreshment bar.

Volunteering has also taken a hit, as Michel Lemaître recalled: “It’s difficult to renew volunteers. But it is a deep evil that dates from before the Covid ”. Christian Jadas went in this direction by evoking the urgency of “reviewing the status of volunteering” to encourage people to invest more: “People who come to do something for nothing, there are no more”.

Concerns

The Wa-Jutsu club has “lost some unvaccinated teenagers” but has stabilized its workforce. The most impacted among the leaders present is the president of Forme Bazeillaise, which had a good thirty members and who today has grown to ten. “I don’t know how I’m going to do next year. I wanted to renew my equipment but I can’t” explains Gilles Maisonneuve who created this association in 2009 and who fears having to stop this summer. Fortunately, for others, the crisis has not had too much impact or even none, as for the Pétanqueurs Bazeillais who have the same number of players but whose president Jean-Claude Anglade regrets “two unvaccinated people who we have had to put aside.

In karate, to maintain their workforce, the leaders decided from the start to find solutions, in particular by organizing training outdoors despite sometimes inclement weather. A small victory since they went from 37 licensees to 41 this year. Its president, Jean-Marie Le Guyader, concluded this tour de table by encouraging the leaders of the other clubs with these words: “What must be done is not to give up”.

Was this article helpful to you? Note that you can follow Le Républicain Lot-et-Garonne in the My News space. In one click, after registration, you will find all the news of your favorite cities and brands.